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I always say “what a crazy year, huh?” but this year I mean it. Things are about to pop, and probably not in a good way. My Brooklyn neighborhood has changed more in 2014 than in any of the other 17 years I’ve lived here, including the loss of all the venues on Kent / S. 2nd St. (It was bound to happen but VICE, you really really really could’ve/should’ve picked a different place. You suck.) Williamsburg ain’t what it used to be. I know it’s over, still I cling.

That said, 2014 was a great year for music. You can check out my Top 20 LPs over at BrooklynVegan and I’ll hopefully have my Top 50 up this weekend. In the meantime, here’s my annual bunch of year-end mixes which includes songs from albums that won’t make my best-of list but I liked a lot too. The mixes are more thematic than in some sort of ranked-by-goodness. Hopefully they flow well! You can download or stream them, and they’d probably be good for a party (if you don’t want to hear any hip hop or anything zeitgeist popular). Enjoy, and ¡Viva la 2015 Revolución!

As usual, I got a bunch of people to do art for these. My old college pal Phil Maramba did the art for Mix #1. Note: the “0” is the “Golden Eagle” from glorious WV cholesterol chain Tudor’s Biscuit World, which I will probably be wishing I was eating on New Year’s Day morning.

Mix #2’s artwork was done by lonnnngtime contributor Greg Morris who never ever disappoints. I give this one 18 thumbs up. This mix is the craziest and it’s because as I pulled songs that fit together in my mind, these were basically the last songs left. So it was the last mix I made, but it’s also got some of my absolute favorite songs of the year, so I bumped it up to #2. Definitely a little kooky, but I think it workd ed well.

Kate Bryant, who has probably contributed to Sound Bites mix art longer than anyone else, does this very groovy soundsystem design for Mix #4 which is, I guess, the “pop” mix of these. Or what “pop” means to me. The TOPS song was my favorite track of 2014, btw.

I had two new artwork contributors for these, including Kris Peterson who holds down the fort at DFA Records when not going to shows, DJing or speaking his mind on Twitter. I gave him the most “punk” mix, and he gave me a very clever tribute to Vanessa’s Dumplings.

Another first-time mix art maker is Tim Paul who, like me, has put up with Williamsburg’s changing landscape. Some might say the neighborhood’s gone to the dogs, but he puts a positive spin on that. This is my “dance” mix.

I made this mix of goth favorites for this bar near my house, Snacky, 12 years ago (!) and it still gets played there around this time (and at other bars, actually). I posted it on this blog six years ago and figured I’d repost again. It really is pretty good, hard to go wrong with a bunch of stone-cold classics. Perfect for your Halloween party or any time of the year really.

It’s definitely not Friday but it IS STILL summer. For four more hours. So two final mixes, one is on the dance side and the other is more indie rock. The latter’s cover art was done by digital graffiti auteur, King of the Streets. He is nowhere and everywhere…even the clouds. As usual this year you can either stream or download. Even though there were no yacht races, free-throw competitions or Demi Moore, it was still one crazy summer. Looking forward to fall. Enjoy!

It’s Labor Day Weekend and the unofficial end to Summer. I spent half of my August doing my civic duty serving on the Kings County Grand Jury which was an interesting experience and made for a stressful and mix-free weeks. But Summer Fridays are back — even if it’s a Saturday — and I’m going to do a couple more after this just to get it to an even 10. Also, summer ain’t over till September 21 anyway.

This week we’ve got a few songs from some of the year’s best albums (Ty Segall, Spoon), a couple yacht rock classics (Gerry Rafferty, Ned Doheny) and, believe it or not, only ONE song from the ’80s. Crazy. You can download or stream, isn’t that nice?

It’s that time of year again when I do my “here’s some Brazilian funk and weird French synthpop into some oddball Japanese song and that song from the commercial they showed during the World Cup then a Nigerian Moog obsessive and Trojan dub and OF COURSE some Stereolab” mix. All of which seems to flow magically together. But am I starting to become a broken record?

Speaking of, how about that cute little guy above? This week’s cover was done by Summer Fridays All-Star Greg Morris. Another exemplarily job. I hope you like this one, I think it’s a lot of fun.

A last-minute shuffling of who was doing cover art this week left a hole for this week, and Chris Pickering of Future Punks and the fine Dull Tools label was nice enough to step up to the plate and give us the lovely cover you see above. It reminded of the kind of art you saw on UK indiepop 7″s so that was the real inspiration behind this week’s choice of tunes. So you get some C86-era stuff (pre-rapping PWEI, The Bodines, Jasmine Minks), new stuff that fits with that vibe (Literature, Pale Lights, Joanna Gruesome), and artists from in-between. Enjoy!

I’ve said it before, Summer Fridays are a state of mind. Which is why I don’t feel too bad about getting this week’s SF up on a Saturday. A year from now (or ten) when you’re still jamming this, you will not think “Bill was late posting this.” You will think, “Wow, this has ‘War on the East Coast’ and that weird ’60s song, and those obscure glam tracks and that awesome Protomartyr song…I love it ever so much!” Seriously though how good is New Pornographers‘ “War on the East Coast”? Single of the Year? Maybe. Quite possibly video of the year, AC Newman is clearly having so much fun lypsynching Bejar’s vocals, giving them the gravitas performance they deserve. The mix ends with makers of what will surely be my #1 album of the year, Protomartyr. That Marvelous Mark song is killer too. Also: new Raveonettes which is also real good. Plus…The Fall, GBV, Sleaford Mods, Total Control… I like this one.

Cover art this week was done by my friend and fellow BrooklynVegan writer Klaus Kinski (The famous one, not the actor). That’s a picture of his mouth, “pre-braces, 1991. It definitely doesn’t scream summer and is certainly weird. I did take the pic in the summer though!” Please enjoy this one in either streaming or download form. It’s not Freedom Rock, but turn it up, dude. Here’s the stream, via the nifty Mixcloud site:

One month in, this fourth mix is a bit of a kitchen sink cookie, with a crisp guitar-y crust and a soft synthy middle. Delicious. Cover art this week is by longtime contributor Kate Bryant. Clever as always. Please enjoy!

If only I’d started one week earlier with these we’d have Summer Fridays 7.4 on July 4. I didn’t think of that till just now, unfortunately, so it was not to be. That said we’ve got what I think is a very good one, that is mostly music from ’82 – ’84 with a few songs from right here in 2014 that fit that mood. As for the new, we’ve got La Roux evoking some serious Bananarama vibes, a song from the great new Hollie Cook album, plus Brian Eno/Karl Hyde, and Brooklyn new wave revivalists Future Punx. Also: NEW BAXTER DURY! As for the old, let’s travel back to the days when the UK charts were full of exciting new pop. Why yes, that is Culture Club you see on here. The opening and closing track were deliberately placed. Can you figure out why?

This week’s cover art is by frequent contributor Kelly Hitzing who lives in Miami where every Friday is Summer Friday. She just illustrated a book on foraging for edible plants in Miami and you should buy it. The picture is from some thing they do down there called Floatopia. She hired that plane just for this.

Anyway, this would make pretty good backyard barbecue music, I think. Feel free to do so. I’ve got this one streaming in addition to the download. Enjoy and have a great holiday weekend.

So this is the first real Friday of Summer 2014. How is yours going so far? Me too. No real theme this week, though much of it’s got a postpunk sorta vibe to it. This one opens with a brand new song from the Brian Jonestown Massacre — their new album is good, people. You also get fresh cuts from The Horrors, Craft Spells, newish Brooklyn band Gingerlys, Merchandise, The Horrors, Cold Beat (Hannah of Grass Widow), plus classics from The Chameleons (how did I wait till the seventh year to use “Swamp Thing”), Pale Saints, Adult Net (Brix from The Fall) and more.

WE'VE GOT MIXES

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I’ve been mostly cut-off from the internet this week thanks to living in a pre-War building that has cable installed in ways McGuyver never would’ve attempted. (A vision of a SOPA future, perhaps.) But we’re back on now and I managed to put this one together while unplugged. Last week we got mostly dancey songs, […]

There were a few snowflakes in the air today here in Brooklyn, the first of the season, so it’s good timing for the first Wintry Mix of 2012. Unlike the Summer Fridays mixes, these will be almost entirely new music… though I’m allowing myself one oldie per week. Lots of great stuff here: new singles […]

We’re in it now. It’s July and it’s HOT and I’ve blown my fuses twice already. That’s what I get for making toast with the A/C on. Try not to lose power when cranking this one, though volume should definitely be set to Very Loud. Cover art this week is by Mazing Vids co-conspirator and […]

Did you know there’s an animal park in Florida that develops bonds between tigers and humans by having them swim together? You probably did, it’s been around for three years. I just found out via this week’s cover art done by my friend and frequent art contributor Kelly Hitzing. If you didn’t, there is such […]